


Surprise!

by dovingbird



Category: American Idol RPF
Genre: Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-24
Updated: 2014-01-24
Packaged: 2018-01-09 22:15:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1151413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dovingbird/pseuds/dovingbird
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It had been too long. Colton’s lips quirked into a smile as his hands tightened around the steering wheel. How long, exactly? A whole year? Man. What ordinarily would be no big deal turned into an eternity when it was you being apart from your best friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Surprise!

**Author's Note:**

> Written as a prompt response: "Colton Dixon and Scotty McCreery. They are best friends, and Colton is visiting Garner." This was notoriously hard, since I hadn't watched AI since the days of Melinda Doolittle, but I think I might have managed.

It had been too long. Colton's lips quirked into a smile as his hands tightened around the steering wheel. How long, exactly? A whole year? Man. What ordinarily would be no big deal turned into an eternity when it was you being apart from your best friend.

North Carolina was sweltering and it wasn't even May, but he couldn't complain about it. There was something about the Carolinas that filled him with excitement, with love. He wasn't surprised. They held two of the people that he cared more about than most anyone else in the world, bar his relatives. One was Elise Testone, that rough-voiced blonde dynamo he'd met only a few months ago. The other was the man he was presently coming to see.  
  
Scotty McCreery. It had been far longer than he'd ever intended to let it be...so why wait another day?  
  
The wind whistled in through his open windows and whipped his hair across his forehead, tickling his skin just like the sounds of Lifehouse were tickling his ears. In this moment, it was okay that he'd been kicked off of American Idol so suddenly. It was okay that he was still dealing with those lingering traces of guilt for having the experience of a lifetime when his sister missed out on so much of it. It was okay that he was experiencing a degree of writer's block that he couldn't shake.  
  
Everything was so close to perfect. He breathed out a soft prayer of gratitude on a sigh.  
  
He turned onto a familiar street and then into a familiar driveway and stared up at the even more familiar house, tousling his hair intentionally to set it to messy rights. He found himself wondering if Mrs. McCreery'd make that chess pie she knew he loved, if Mr. McCreery'd explode into excited Spanish when he opened the door.  
  
"No time like the present," he murmured as he shut off the car and slid out of the SUV. The second his boots hit the ground, he grinned broadly. It was a weird wave of excitement that carried him straight to the front door, as if he didn't have to move his legs at all.  
  
He knocked. But it wasn't Mr. or Mrs. McCreery that answered. It was the exact man he came to see, and the way his eyes widened to the popping-out-of-his-skull point made the whole trip worth it. "Colton?!" Scotty grinned from ear to ear as he launched himself at the man and grabbed him in a bear hug. "What the hell're you doing here?!"  
  
"Seeing you graduate, duh!" Colton laughed as he carelessly ruffled Scotty's hair in a companionable way. "What'd you think, I just got lost driving around and came all the way to Garner?"  
  
"I don't know!"  
  
The two hugged unabashedly for several long seconds before Mrs. McCreery bustled into the entryway, a brilliant smile on her face. "Well, look at that!" She hurried over for a hug of her own, as if Colton was her own son. "What brings you to town?"  
  
"Momma, he's come to see me graduate," Scotty said with a certain amount of gushing. It was strange to see him wear his excitement so plainly on his sleeve. For a good old country boy who tended to keep his feelings to himself, it was almost a relief for Colton to see. For as long as he could remember, Colton was as touchy-feely as a guy could get, especially around the people he cared about. He was always a little worried that it made Scotty feel awkward or uncomfortable.  
  
"You're staying here tonight, aren't you?" Mrs. McCreery chirped.  
  
Colton chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "Well, I mean, I don't wanna impose, but-"  
  
"But nothing! You're not sleeping outside in your car, if that's what you're thinking. You're so tall you'd have to hang your legs out the window."  
  
Southern hospitality was a way of life around here, Colton realized, and so he inclined his head in resignation, a pleased smile secretly sneaking across his face.  
  
"I've got dinner on," Mrs. McCreery informed the pair, one hand on each of their backs as she propelled them to the stairs. "You two go catch up. I'll call you when I'm done."  
  
"Yes, ma'am," they replied in unison as they flew up the stairs like boys half their ages.  
  
The second they got to his bedroom, Scotty collapsed into his computer chair and left Colton in the doorframe, taking everything in. There were his gold records. His acoustic guitar. Pictures of him and famous stars, the kind that Colton could only dream of meeting. He exhaled and shook his head. "You've come a long way, man."  
  
Scotty chuckled, a low, deep rumbling, and rubbed his head like he always did when he was feeling a little bit sheepish. "Yeah, well, you're gonna be there next." As Colton entered the room and dropped onto Scotty's bed, kicking off his boots, a long silence spread through the air. "Sucked to see you get kicked off, man. You know I was voting all night long every night. Hell, even got most of my friends into it, but...y'know, a lot of them were already fixed on Elise, with the whole South Carolina thing and all."  
  
"Dude, don't sweat it." He waved it off like a fly, draping his arm across his forehead with a smile. "She deserved to stay."  
  
"Yeah, but compared to you?"  
  
Colton shook his head and closed his eyes. "/All/ of us deserved to stay. That's what we were there for. Had different strengths and weaknesses, but when it came right down to it, we were all great singers, and we loved music equally. After a while, it's just a popularity contest, y'know?"  
  
He snorted. "Trust me. I know."  
  
Colton's smile grew a little wider. "I mean, it would've been cool for you to be handing over that trophy to me, but...I don't know. I've got a feeling there's a reason I didn't get picked." He moved his arm and looked over at Scotty, quirking a brow. "Like...I mean, what kind of freedom do you have when it comes to these albums of yours or your schedule or...?"  
  
Scotty shrugged, turning in his chair so he was sitting in it backward, his chest against its back. "'Bout as much as anybody else, I guess."  
  
"Yeah. But I think you're one of the lucky ones. You're pure country. I'm...I'm a little riskier for a secular label to pick up."  
  
Scotty nodded thoughtfully.  
  
"Anyway, it doesn't matter." He could feel his smile turn a little smug, just a hair of pride in his tone. "Because guess who's writing songs for his first album."  
  
For a moment, Scotty just stared. And then he leaned forward, eyes huge all over again. "You got signed? Already?! Hot damn, I knew you'd do it!"  
  
Colton threw his head back and laughed. That was the reaction he'd been waiting for. There was something about Scotty that helped make his life just the tiniest bit more exciting.  
  
"What label?!"  
  
"I can't tell you. Not all the paperwork's done yet, but...they wanna see my stuff. I just..." He sat up and exhaled, grinning fron ear to ear. "Dude, God's doing such great stuff in our lives. Can you believe it? I mean, look at where we are!"  
  
Scotty leaned into the chair and rested his chin on his crossed arms. "I know. Who knew, eh? Some kid from North Carolina. A punk from Murphreesboro."  
  
"Watch who you're calling a punk," he teased. "I can still throw you in a headlock."  
  
"Dude, have you seen these guns? Seriously?" He tugged up one of his sleeves and nodded in smug satisfaction. "Aww yeah. You'd be going down real fast."  
  
"Let's test that theory!" he shouted with a lunge.  
  
Just like they'd been doing for years, the men collapsed to the floor and threw themselves into a wrestling frenzy, each shouting playful insults and determined to get the better of each other. Colton decided, even as Scotty dragged him into an epic headlock, that as long as they could keep this friendship going, it didn't matter who sold the most records or got signed the quickest or any of that. Nothing mattered. Not if they had each other's back.


End file.
